


A Shore Leave Memento

by Penthesilea1623



Series: Come Back Home [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 00:26:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penthesilea1623/pseuds/Penthesilea1623
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On shore leave after the battle of the citadel Kaidan finally manages to get a picture of Shepard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Shore Leave Memento

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by : [this photo](http://penthesilea1623.tumblr.com/post/72626724714/shore-leave-its-only-after-ilos-and-after-they) and originally posted on my tumblr. This is a slightly more polished version of that piece. 
> 
> Takes place between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

It’s only after Ilos, and after they defeat Sovereign at the Battle of the Citadel, only when they take that shore leave and head to Earth, to a Caribbean island so small that most people have never heard of it, that Kaidan realizes something about Shepard that he never knew.

Shepard, Commander Shepard, hero of Elysium, the first human spectre, dislikes having her picture taken.

That’s wrong, actually. She doesn’t dislike it. She absolutely hates having her picture taken.

Not the formal posed photographs that she’s been forced to do for the Alliance PR machine. She accepts those as just another part of her job.

She hates the informal pictures: the ones where someone might see behind that mask she always keeps so carefully in place. 

“Just one, Shepard.” He says laughing, as she puts her hands up in front of her face. 

“I hate the way I look in pictures. I always look like I'm about to hit someone.” She complains.

“Just one. Just for me. I promise, no one else will see it.” She’s sunburned from their day on the beach, and wearing a sheer lace t shirt with short sleeves that flutter in the breeze from the ocean. They’re heading to a beachside shack to get something to eat before going back to the small house they’ve rented, and though he could get hundreds of pictures of her off of the extranet he wants one of her here, not a picture of Commander Shepard, the Goddess, perfectly put together, not a hair out of place. 

He wants a picture of the woman he’s shared all these nights and days with, the one who giggles when he tickles her, who jumps on his back as they run down to the water, the one who lies beside him resting her head on his stomach as she reads a book – a real book, not off of her omni-tool, but an actual paperback, one of half a dozen that she’d thrown in the duffel she’d brought along. 

He knows when they go back to the Normandy that woman will disappear again, and he’ll only catch glimpses of her when they manage to sneak a few minutes alone together. 

But he doesn’t want to think about that now. Doesn’t want to think about that, or how many Alliance regulations they’re breaking and the fact that they’re going to have to deal with them at some point. 

He wants a picture of her to remember right now. 

She's giving him a suspicious look but she's not saying no, and before she can, he snaps a picture. He looks at the picture and laughs.

She grabs his arm. “Let me see.” 

Still laughing, he does. 

“It’s awful.” She says, her dismay plain.

“No,” he says. “It’s perfect.” And it is. She still looks slightly suspicious, and if he's honest, a little bit like she wants to hit someone. Her eyes seem to be issuing a challenge at him from the image, but if you look carefully, there’s a hint of a smile on her face, and with that lace t shirt hugging every curve of her breasts, she looks sexy as hell. He saves the image and turns back to her with a pleased grin.

She can’t help smiling back. “I don’t know why you like me so much.” She says moving closer to him and sliding her arms around his neck. 

“I’m sure I’ll come up with a reason or two eventually.” He teases, before he leans forward, and pulling her close against him, kisses her. 

They never do make it to the shack for dinner, making due instead with bowls of cold cereal much, much later that night. 

He loses track of how many times he looks at the picture after the SR-1 is destroyed.

After his date with that doctor on the Citadel, he comes back to his tiny apartment and thinks maybe it’s time. He won’t destroy it. He’ll save it to the hard drive of his computer, but maybe it’s time to take it off his omni-tool.

He pulls the picture up and stares at it. Stares at the challenge in her eyes. Thinks about how those lips felt and tasted under his. Remembers how many times they made love on that trip. Remembers how she would curl up against him in her sleep, and he closes the image. 

No. Not yet. 

Maybe after he finishes this next assignment.

Yes, he thinks, resolutely. When he gets back from Horizon. He’ll do it then.

**Author's Note:**

> more photo inspirations and other Mass Effect related things can be found on my tumblr: [Come Back Home inspiration/style references](http://penthesilea1623.tumblr.com/search/Come+Back+Home)


End file.
